Want beautiful hair and blemish-free skin? Then you need to become a detective — a cosmetic ingredient detective. While there are many myths about foods that cause acne, there are some well-known skin and hair-care ingredients that cause acne in many people.

Keep it Simple

If you have acne, avoid products that add oil to your skin or hair. Ingredient labels don’t always underline the acne-causing ingredients. When looking at products and acne treatments, always look for "non-acne" or "non-comedogenic." If it says "oil-free," it may still contain ingredients that cause breakouts. Stay away from isopropyl myristate, oils, and silicone, petrolatum, PVP, CVP and copolymer ingredients. Sodium lauryl sulfate and ammonium lauryl sulfate are also ingredients you should avoid.

Wash and condition your hair before you wash the rest of your body to remove any residue that hair products may leave on your skin. Just think how hard it is to get grease off of dishes, you normally need to wash it several times to be grease-free. It’s the same with hair products — they will leave a residue that can cause breakouts if you are already prone to acne. Really clean the skin well to rid it of any product residue.

Product Dos and Don'ts for Clear Skin

To prevent pimples, consider a few changes to your hair routine:

Style your hair before you apply your makeup. Wash hands thoroughly to remove all hair products before you touch your skin. Some of these products really stick and you will need to wash your hands twice.

Cover your face before you use hair spray. Check out beauty supply stores for a plastic face shield you can cover your face with before spraying hair spray.

Do not touch your hair and then your face as you will transfer hair product to your skin.

Here is a list of ingredients that cause acne from cosmetic chemist Monroe Lanzet. Don't be overwhelmed — just start to eliminate products that have these ingredients. Remember, the first ingredients on a label are the higher concentrations, and the ones at the end contain the least. Think like a detective. If breakouts just recently started happening, what new products have you been using? Stop using them for several weeks and see if your skin clears. It takes days to weeks to clear blemishes, so be consistent and avoid touching your face.

useful article... except I had been under the impression that hemp seed oil and shea butter were not comedogenic? I know this was written a couple of years ago, but I figure I might as well jump in with my comment

Good article, but this seems to eliminate almost every product on the market. Sure there are some with obvious "bad stuff" in them, but those extracts and oils--it's hard to find products without them!